“Go on! To—what?”
“To—murdered.”
“Murdered by whom?”
John closed the Bible and made no answer. He withdrew quietly to the window. Meanwhile, Agatha had controlled her emotions and was dabbing at her eyes with a pocket-handkerchief which Lady Selina perceived to be of cambric as fine as her own. She addressed Agatha:
“Obviously you two think that I murdered these little girls.”
Agatha replied without acrimony:
“I know what causes diphtheria and typhoid.”
“I wonder if others in this village share your views and judgments.”
Nicodemus made bold to say:
“I bain’t one o’ they, my lady.”